Current News
September 2005 Update
Dear Family,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, who blesses us beyond what we deserve and everyday blesses us with His tender mercies.
I have to say that some days, we feel like we more vividly need the blessings of the Lord than others. We have had some of these very challenging days in which we feel we need the hand of the Lord all the more.
Grace is Home!
We are so glad to have our daughter Grace here with us, after almost 14 months away. We have had long conversations and it seems that we always had more and more to talk about. We are happy that her time here is a bit longer than usual, so we can enjoy her company and have some father- daughter time, as soon as I can get her away from the siblings and her mom that also seem to have a lot to fill her in. She seems to be sleepy during the day and I know it has something to do with all the laughing and talking that goes on until late hours of the night, which is so good for us all. Grace was not here for this summer so we are showing her and talking to her about all that we were able to accomplish, so we decided to share it all with you as well.
We had a wonderful winter, which for you, was summer and we were able to see so many of you yet another time and to get to know some new members of our family. We were blessed to have both grandmothers and little babies coming to join the family of Lar Batista and that richly blessed us.
I always say that our guests are the lungs of our ministry and again, you brought a breath of fresh air to our home. This year has been a difficult one to us with so much going on. The Lord has blessed us with new challenges, which we have accepted and finished and others that we are still working to be able to accomplish.
Our family is doing well and everyone seems to be doing well, health wise, except for some cold and coughing, which is so normal in any home with children. Our children are working hard as they face the final phase of their school year and that has kept them busy. Some had more fun and play time than others and these are working harder now to catch up on their grades.
Our church is doing well, and growing as we go. Joaquim Jr. has been doing a great job leading the church when I am not able to do so and God has blessed him greatly and used him as well. There are several new believers and young adults seem to be coming to church more often, which is an answer to prayer.
Summer Mission Teams
We had a wonderful time receiving the 5 teams that came from the USA from May to August, and we are now preparing for yet another team coming to see us in October from the Seattle area. So much was accomplished through the partnership with these teams such as an outreach to the community with the Volleyball team, work that was done in the guest house by the team from Iowa, landscaping with the Tennessee teams, leaving it all looking good, and a great discipleship team made up of three godly young married men who came here to work with our older boys and bless us all with their great personalities. We were truly blessed!
Pai's Health
I just need to apologize for not feeling great when you all were here, but I have good news! I have been feeling a lot better! At some point we were thinking about a possible amputation of parts of my foot and now I am glad to let you know I have already been wearing shoes for a couple of weeks. The wound has dried and healed and God has been good. I have also been given medication, insulin and oils that you all have sent me and it has been great to my legs. Thank you! I wish I could tell you in person, but you are all part of my prayers! Please keep my health in your prayers as well as Mae's.
I would also like to thank you all for the love and care for each child and adult of our family. You seemed to have given some more thoughts as you bought us gifts because everything we were given would have been what we would have wanted anyway! Thank you!
Thank you ladies for the gifts for Mae's kitchen, she was so happy with everything and I am helping her, making sure she has a chance to use everything you gave her as I go through napkins and table clothes everyday. Thank you gentlemen for the dishes and the washing machine you gave her, she has truly enjoyed your gifts. I have always known she needed and deserved them, but I am so happy God used you to meet this need. Thank you!
The Guest House
As per the progress we have had on the guesthouse, I can tell you that we are so happy that we have come this far, but it has not been an easy ride for us. We have had a lot of stress building this guesthouse, we have learned a lot with it already. I want to apologize that some of you did not have electricity while you were here and some had showers colder than they were used to, but we are working to fix these issues.
Urgent Financial Needs
My children, I need to also tell you of the things that are not going so well at our home. In talking to grace about our finances, we were reminded that we are coming short of our commitment every month and it has really been an issue here for us. I want you to know that what we have received is a blessing and more than anyone has ever committed to sending us but it is still less than what we have needed here.
I am coming to you once again, as a father, asking you to help us in a special way for the next few months so that we could meet this need. We would all need to make some special investments in the ministry here to make ends meet. I have already made my personal investment, but selling some cattle to help meet the need. It has not brought us very far but it has helped some. The children have also helped, as their crafts and the shirts they sold at the store paid for some of our expenses here these past months.
Can I ask you to please join us in this special task force to meet this need? I can only be in prayer for you, as you are our voice there where God has you, speaking on our behalf, helping us raise funds to meet the needs.
I will end this letter with a very positive example of an 9 year old friend of our ministry. Anna Leslie, from Memphis Tennessee has been a prayer partner of Lar Batista and just recently she mobilized her class to raise two hundred dollars to buy bibles and books for the children here. Anna is a great example and we just can't wait to give her a hug and thank her for her help to the ministry here. Obrigado Anna. We are praying for you.
Thank you my family, please know you are in our prayers and please help us in this great task.
In Jesus,
Pai